Embedded: The House
April 9, 2016 10:51 AM - Subscribe

Last spring, Austin, Ind., was at the center of an HIV outbreak linked to intravenous use of the opioid painkiller Opana. In one house in Austin, a man addicted to Opana says he didn't think he would get HIV through sharing needles. The town's only full-time doctor is trying to encourage people to get help, but many people have yet to be tested.
posted by eotvos (3 comments total)
 
Up until last year, needle exchanges were illegal everywhere in Indiana, and you could be arrested for carrying a needle. So Devon says people would reuse needles and share needles, like, hundreds of times. Devin says the needle would get so dull you'd have to sharpen it. And he says people didn't think about what could happen.
Looking around a little further, there's now a single needle exchange program that was made legal specifically in response to this outbreak. But, even that's been intentionally hobbled by a registration policy and a limit on the number of needles it can hand out.

I realize there are millions of thoughtful, ethical, smart people in Indiana. It isn't their fault their state and local governments are uniformly awful. But, goddamn!

Also, I'm looking forward to more from this podcast. The first episodes are really engaging and thoughtfully produced.
posted by eotvos at 11:08 AM on April 9, 2016


ive heard the first two episodes of this, they're both pretty good. They have the same vibe as bbc radio documentaries.
posted by skewed at 7:56 AM on April 10, 2016


I really liked this! Had to skip forward through some of the more graphic descriptions of IV drug use but am looking forward to listening to the other available episodes. Has Kelly McEvers appeared on This American Life or Planet Money? She has such a familiar voice but I haven't listened to All Things Considered.
posted by ellieBOA at 10:15 PM on January 17, 2017


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